K-12 Deputy Chancellor Mary Jane Tappen was constantly on the move, ducking in and out of dozens of training sessions.

“Next year, we are doing blended course descriptions which means in all English language arts and math classrooms, they’ll be teaching the Common Core,” Tappen said.

Common Core focuses on less content, but is designed to leave students with a thorough understanding of each topic. The goal is to get American students on a par with international benchmarks and ready for life after high school.

Tappen hoped Tuesday’s participants will leave more confident about their knowledge of the new standards and eager to learn more.

“Next year is going to be the heavy lift for our teachers and for our schools administrators,” Tappen said. “We hope that this has set up a supportive environment, a trusting environment where they’ve learned enough to feel like they can get started.”

Dr. Pink Hightower, staff development director for Gadsden County Schools, said teachers in his district are asking for more training.

“They want to know what it looks like when it’s rolled out and exactly what they need to teach in order to have their students be able to perform on the Common Core exam,” Hightower said.

“Things like having students cite evidence on a regular basis in all content areas, that’s a different kind of assignment to give (and) to assign grades to,” Tappen said. “The evidence of student learning, making sure every student in the classroom has provided you evidence of that before you move on – that’s going to be hard.”

The institute in Gulf Breeze is the smallest of this summer’s training sessions. Over 13,000 participants are registered have registered for the sessions, but that’s just a fraction of the state’s teachers.